


Lost in the Rain like Everything Else

by spoondragon



Category: The Pacific (TV)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, M/M, Period-Typical Racism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-17
Updated: 2018-01-17
Packaged: 2019-03-06 01:51:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,330
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13400931
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spoondragon/pseuds/spoondragon
Summary: They were, all of them, the most beat down, hollowed out motherfuckers you'd ever want to meet, long ago stripped raw of the things that made you civil or even human. And they were never more than spitting distance from each other. It was only a matter of time before somebody cracked. Before Snafu found out what was worse than hell.





	Lost in the Rain like Everything Else

They'd been on that godforsaken island for over sixty fuckin' days. Two solid months of constant killing and dying, practically swimming in their own shit, past butchered, rotten bodies - some foe, some friend - without any hope of reinforcement or relief anytime soon. They were, all of them, the most beat down, hollowed out motherfuckers you'd ever want to meet, long ago stripped raw of the things that made you civil or even human. And they were never more than spitting distance from each other. It was only a matter of time before somebody cracked. Before Snafu found out what was worse than hell.

"We need some reinforcements up here!" Snafu declared to no one in particular.

"Give it a rest," Eugene replied testily. 

"Fuck you, Eugene!" Bitching was all Snafu had and Eugene wouldn't even allow him that.

"Yeah, fuck you too, Shelton." The surname stung, almost as much as the hollow gaze. So he kept on.

"Fuck, I'm so fuckin' tired. I'm fuckin' tired of this maggoty stench. First they order us to push forward when we ain't got enough bodies - "

"Shut up." Eugene spoke over him but he didn't – couldn't – stop.

" - then they order us to sit in our own fuckin' shit. They fuckin' shell us with our own artillery - "

"Shut UP!"

"I'm so fuckin' tired of not having enough FUCKIN' BODIES!"

"Jesus Christ, SHUT UP!" Eugene spun toward him, livid.

"FUCK YOU!" 

"SHUT UP!"

"FUCK YOU, SLEDGE!" It felt good to scream, to finally _do _something with all his impotent rage.__

____

____

"JUST SHUT. UP. SHELTON!"

"FUCK! YOU!"

Suddenly, Peck stood up, charging out of their makeshift shelter and up the ridge. Hamm called after him but he kept going like his ass was on fire. Eugene ordered him to sit down but it was too late. He was too far gone. He whipped off his helmet and poncho and made for the top of the ridge. Before Snafu could even put together what the fuck he was up to, he started screaming and shooting at the Japs on the other side of the ravine.

"COME ON YOU FUCKERS! COME ON AND FUCKING GET ME! COME ON!" he cried, firing blindly into the dark. The poor, dumb fucker was going for death-by-Jap and he was going to get them all killed in the process.

Naturally, Eugene was the first to take off after him. Whenever the shit hit the fan and everybody else ran for cover, Eugene ran for the wounded. Even if it meant running directly into the shit – or across an airfield. He was good like that. Even now, when there was so little good left in him. 

Snafu scrambled up the ridge after Eugene and Hamm. Eugene had taken cover behind a big coral outcropping to Peck's left. He was staying low, trying to pull Peck down by his leg. But Peck kept shaking him off. That meant Eugene was about to do something real, real stupid. Fuck that shit. Not on his watch. No fuckin' way.

"EUGENE!" Snafu screamed.

He grabbed him by the poncho and wrestled him back behind the boulder. Eugene grunted and fought against his hold. Hamm lunged for Peck and in that brief second of distraction, Eugene freed himself from Snafu's grip. 

"Stay down!" Snafu shouted after him. 

His empty hands scrabbled uselessly against the wet rock. But too late. Suddenly, he was watching dominos fall. First, Peck was brought down by Hamm. Then, Hamm was brought down by Eugene. Who was brought down by a bullet.

The distinctive _whizz sshunk _of a slug connecting with flesh never became less grotesque, no matter how many times you heard it. But this time, the sound was immediately followed by Eugene's hoarse cry of pain. And it was worse than anything Snafu had ever heard.__

____

____

Eugene crumpled into a heap and Snafu dove for him, screaming his name. His heart thrashed itself against the cage of his ribs, like a panicked bird as a cold, hollow pit formed in his gut. 

"CORPSMAN! CORPSMAN! NEED A CORPSMAN OVER HERE!" Snafu could hear someone (Hamm?) yelling, but it seemed far away.

"Where you hit? Where are you HIT, god damnit?!" Snafu demanded, frantically struggling with the snaps on Eugene's poncho.

"I dunno. Shoulder?" His words sounded wrong, like his tongue was too thick for his mouth.

Snafu soon discovered why. When he wrenched open Eugene's uniform, blood was pouring from a massive hole beneath his collarbone.

"Shit. CORPSMAN!" He didn't feel like he could make his voice loud enough. There was suddenly no breath in his lungs.

Hands shaking, Snafu tore a swath of cotton from his undershirt and pressed it to the hole. It may have been filthy, but at least it was dry enough to soak up some blood. Eugene hissed through gritted teeth and whimpered at the pressure. Snafu found it hard to speak, Eugene's precious blood spilling hot against his hands, trickling away in the rain.

"Don't you DARE fuckin' die on me Eugene. Don't you FUCKIN' dare."

Bizarrely, Eugene smiled. The goofy-lipped grin that he had quirked about "lilliputian", the one that had first made Snafu eager to trade tins and spit with him so very many hard days ago. 

"Hell, Snaf. I didn't know you cared," Eugene slurred.

Snafu made some sort of sound that might have been a laugh or a sob. Even he wasn't sure. Didn't know he cared? That was rich. Ever since Eugene had gone back for him that day they crossed the airfield, he had been the reason that Snafu put one boot in front of the other. It quickly became mission critical for Snafu to protect as much of Eugene's innocence and humanity as he could. As he watched those slip away, he felt a part of himself die with them. Didn't know he cared, Jesus Christ. 

Suddenly, Eugene grabbed Snafu's wrist, his shoulder, his neck, pulling him down until their foreheads almost touched. Startled, Snafu met wide, coal eyes shining with a fire he hadn't seen in far too long. 

"Listen. Listen here. Need you to listen now," Eugene babbled urgently.

"All right, Gene. All right. I'm here. I'm listening."

"You gotta get outta here, Snaf. Get home. Promise me, you'll get home."

"I ain't gotta promise shit, cause you're coming with me, you hear?" Snafu hoped he didn't notice the shrill note of panic in his voice. He forced a laugh, more like a wounded bark. "Hell, you'll probably get there first after a stint at a nice, cushy hospital."

Eugene didn't look like he'd heard a word he'd said. He was gazing at Snafu's face, like he'd never seen it before, almost studiously - one eye, then the other, then both at once, then his mouth, then his eyes again - with a soft expression that Snafu had only seen when he talked about his dog or sometimes Sid. Shakily, Eugene lifted his good arm and swiped his thumb under Snafu's eye. 

"Oh," Eugene said, like he'd just remembered something funny. "I love you."

All the wheels in Snafu's head promptly squealed to a halt. _Wait, what? Did he just - ? There is no fuckin' WAY he said what I think he just said. Right?? _He would have asked him about it, but in that moment, Eugene's arm flopped bonelessly to the ground and his eyes rolled back in his head. Everything went gray.__

____

____

Snafu was pushed aside then, numb with shock. Apparently, the corpsmen had finally arrived. He watched, as if from far away, as they bustled Eugene off on a stretcher. They almost dropped him in their haste, his body pitching precariously sideways. _Careful. Careful you fuckers. _He might not have said it out loud. He felt like all his major organs had been scooped out, replaced instead by a cold bowling ball of dread. He brought his knees to his chest and wrapped his arms around them. Tears streamed down his face, lost in the rain like everything else.__

**Author's Note:**

> Originally written for the prompt: "Sledgefu saying 'I love you' while the other is in peril" on the old Tumblr dot com. (I'm spoondragon there too. Check me out if you want to say hi.)


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